Railway-rail.



No. 761,169. PATENTED MAY 31, 1904. M. E. HARRISON. RAILWAY RAIL.

APPL rrrrrrrrrrrrr 123.24, .1903.

no udnEL.

UNITED STATES Patented May 31, 1904.

PATENT OFFICE.

MARTIN EMMITT HARRISON, OF PARNASSUS, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALF TO WILLIAM S. KING, OF PITTSBURG, PENNSYLVANIA.

RAILWAY-RAIL.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 761,169, dated May 31, 1904.

Application filed February 24, 1903. Serial No. 144,890. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, MARTIN EMMITT HARRI- SON, a citizen of the United States, residing at Parnassus, in the county of Westmoreland and State of Pennsylvania, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Railway-Rails, of which improvement the following is a specification.

This invention relates to a new article of manufacture; and it consists of a railway-rail having a serrated, corrugated, or roughened base, as will be fully described hereinafter.

The object of the present invention is to provide a rail adapted for use on railroads which will be simple in its construction and of small initial cost, and, further, to so construct said rails that they will remain in place when properly spiked to the ties, and thereby prevent what is known in the art of railway construction as creeping; and the invention further consists in the novel construction of the base of the rail whereby a firm hold or contact with the cross-ties is maintained at all times.

It has been found in practice that owing to the construction of the railway-rails now in general use great difficulty is found in keeping them in place, as the constant movingof trains will cause the rails to move in the direction of their length, sometimes as much as twelve to twenty inches to the mile of track, and owing to the frequent switches, frogs, turnouts, &c., the two rails forming the track will not creep evenly, in which case the track is thrown out of line, sometimes necessitating the removal of one of the rails for the purpose of reducing its length and also the constant straightening of the track. This above-described evil is especially noticeable in double-track roads, where the trains are almost constantly traveling in the same direction on the separate tracks, as the motive power (the traction-wheels) are constantly revolving in one direction, tending to push the rails in the opposite or to the" rear of the moving train. It has been the practice on several of the large trunk-lines in this vicinity to drill a hole in the web and about the middle of the length of each rail attach, by means of a rivet, a brace, the other end or ends of which are spiked to the tie. These have not proved a success. The rails still creeping will either draw the said spikes or pull the one or two ties with them.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a perspective view of a small portion of a railway-rail constructed in accordance with my invention. Fig. 2 is an inverted plan view thereof.

To construct a railway-rail in accordance with my invention, I form the same by rolling in a manner well known in the art the tread 1, web and flanges being the same shape as those now in use, and at the finishing or last pass through the rolls form a corrugated or serrated base, consisting of a number of angular portions or ribs 3, (see Fig.1.) extending transversely across the base of the flange 2. This is accomplished by forming this particular pass of the rolls with similar corrugations without adding additional cost to the manufacture of the rail, as is obvious.

By means of rails constructed as above described the frictional connection between the rail and each tie supporting the same will be such as to prevent creeping, and, in fact,.

tion of the ties in contact with the base of the rail. This contact surface between a single rail and the ties is roughly estimated at about seven hundred square inches, (700 sq. in.,) and it will be readily understood that the roughened or corrugated surface of the base will be agreat advantage over the smooth base now in use and will effectually prevent the creeping of the rails.

Having thus described my invention, wha I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

A railroad-rail having the under face of its base provided with a plurality of series of angularly-disposed projecting portions.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto signed my name in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

MARTIN EMMITT HARRISON.

In presence of GEO. M. NEWMYER, THos. D. BELL. 

